CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- Local government officials and CMS are teaming up to make sure teens have something constructive to do this summer.
Through the Mayor’s Youth Employment Program (MYEP), the number of available internship opportunities for high school students have doubled this summer compared to last year.
It’s a program that’s been around for 30 years but the renewed emphasis on MYEP is one way to improve the low economic mobility in our area, and specifically as it relates to kids born in poverty.
“If we really believe in the future of our city, we’ve got to believe in the future of our children,” said Charlotte mayor Vi Lyles.
In 2013, a joint study by Harvard and Cal Berkeley ranked Charlotte 50th out of 50 cities in economic mobility among the largest U.S. cities.
“When you look at the numbers and you have over 4,000 adjudicated youth annually," Lyles said. "When you have over 3,400 youth that are in extreme poverty, and when you know that it takes at least a decade for youth to ladder up out of poverty, this program is extremely important.”
In Charlotte, kids that are born in poverty tend to stay that way, as adults are at a higher rate than any other large city in America. In an effort to help fix that, MYEP is doubling the number of internships this summer.
“Eight hundred people, young people, learning to work and to live in our community,” Mayor Lyles said.
The opportunities provided by MYEP are designed to give kids a way to climb out of poverty.
“If we’re serious about creating economic mobility and equity, there is no bigger lever to pull than at CMS,” CMS Superintendent Dr. Clayton Wilcox said.
MYEP is gaining traction year after year as multiple agencies join the effort to bridge the opportunity gap that exists in Charlotte.